Bear with me here, but the Sydney Morning Herald published quite the curious article on Sunday about an upcoming ad encouraging people to get vaxxed, not starring Chris Hemsworth.
So the story goes that Hemsworth, the mighty Thor, needed a vaccine ASAP to start work on a major film back in June. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Hemsworth was “reluctant” to get the AstraZeneca vaccine and supplies of Pfizer were low in Byron Bay, where he lives.
So the actor’s team hopped on the horn to the federal government and asked if they could tee something up. The suits upstairs agreed, but only on the condition that Hemsworth would star in an upcoming vaccination ad campaign.
Apparently, Thor wasn’t keen. He was “reluctant to take part”, according to his reps.
This could be for a slew of reasons, but the Sydney Morning Herald likes to think it has something to do with his Instagram feed. If you follow the star on the social media platform, you would have noticed him heavily promoting his fitness app, Centr.
What does this app have to do with anything? Well, some corners of the fitness and wellness communities have become notoriously anti-jab over the past however many months. So maybe starring in a pro-vaccine ad isn’t the best move for the business. Hmm.
Maybe that’s why he hasn’t posted about the vaccine / getting the vaccine to his 50 million followers on Instagram, like his celebrity counterparts have (and a bunch of your mates with their cute vaxxed selfies).
In the end, Hemsworth ended up getting the Pfizer jab from a different source – money and being famous most definitely helped – and the government found plenty of other Aussie actors to star in its ad. Interest to be in the campaign was said to be so high the government had to turn some actors away.
The ad is said to be on its way, and if Delta Goodrem isn’t in it then that’s just a missed opportunity.
All adult Aussies (yep, even if those of us under 40) are currently able to get the safe and effective AstraZeneca vaccine through a GP. Click here to see which clinics are offering it, and talk to a doctor to see if it’s right for you.
Alternatively, you can triple-check to see if you’re eligible for the Pfizer vaccine here.
The best vaccine is the first one you can get, and that’ll be our ticket out of this mess.
